Underwater Filming Services

Underwater camera work in New York centers on a rare mix of open-water and tank settings. We pick our operators for proven experience in each. The Atlantic off Montauk, the Hamptons coast, and Long Island Sound give clearer-water exterior days for commercial, story, and brand work. The Hudson River, East River, and New York Harbor depend on water quality. For those, we book NYC DEP testing and US Coast Guard NY District planning well ahead.

Most cinematic underwater work in NYC happens in a tank. Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard has shot tank sequences for Severance, Mrs. Maisel, Stranger Things, and the Apple TV+ slate. We book extra tank operators through Silvercup in Long Island City and Kaufman Astoria in Queens. We then route pool-stage work to the specialty underwater sites across the Tri-State area.

Each operator on our register holds PADI, SSI, or NAUI dive certifications matched to the depth and conditions of the brief. The surface teams behind them work with the US Coast Guard NY District and the NYPD Harbor Unit on Hudson River and East River jobs. They also follow OSHA frameworks for any commercial diving on the brief.

We match housings to the camera kit agreed with the DP. ARRI Alexa Mini, RED Komodo and V-Raptor, Sony Venice and FX6, and Blackmagic systems all run often through our packages. We pair them with Gates, SeaSeed, and Hydroflex housings. Each rig adds calibrated dome ports, underwater monitors, and dedicated LED and HMI lighting plans. We log dive plans, risk assessments, safety-diver staffing, surface support, and emergency steps before any actor enters the water. All of it follows US Coast Guard rules and IATSE Local 600 cinematographers’ safety standards.

Our coordinators size the team to the brief. That might be a single-day Steiner tank shoot or a multi-day Hamptons Atlantic documentary that needs drift dives and rebreather safety. The 30% NYS Film Tax Credit plus the 10% NYC uplift are logged from prep through wrap.